Mediating Effect Of Psychological Resilience On Physical Activity Level And Negative Emotions In College Students

Abstract

Depression, anxiety and stress are common negative emotions among college students. While physical activity is an effective way to reduce the level of negative emotions. However, the mechanisms of physical activity levels affect negative emotions is unclear. Psychological resilience is a positive mental quality closely related to physical activity level and negative emotions. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that psychological resilience may be one of the important bridges between physical activity level and negative emotions. PURPOSE: To explore the mediating effect of psychological resilience on physical activity level and negative emotions in college students. METHODS: A survey of 2375 college students in Shandong province was conducted using Physical Activity Rating Scale 3 (PARS-3), Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21). SPSS24.0 statistical software was used for descriptive statistics, one-way variance test and Person correlation analysis, AMOS24.0 software was used for structural modeling, and Bootstrap method was used for testing the mediating effect. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: More than 70% of college students are at a low level of physical activity. There were significant differences in psychological resilience and negative emotions among college students with different physical activity levels (P < 0.001). The physical activity level of college students was significantly correlated with psychological resilience, significantly negatively correlated with depression, anxiety, stress and overall negative emotion (P < 0.01). The results of the structural equation model showed that physical activity level can directly affect negative emotions (direct effect = -0.045, 95%CI:-0.085, -0.004) and indirectly affect negative emotions through psychological resilience (indirect effect = -0.067, 95%CI:-0.084, -0.052). The mediating effect of psychological resilience accounts for 59.82% of the total effect. CONCLUSIONS: The level of physical activity can not only directly affect the negative emotions of college students, but also reduce their negative emotions by enhancing their psychological resilience.